Love Makes You Do Crazy Things
by DaniPep
Summary: Hermione sees Fred apparently die and can't handle it properly. Takes place during the actual war/fighting. One shot.


"You'll come back," they said. "When it's over. No need to say goodbye." A lie to comfort. Would it be better than the truth that hurt? Better to ignore reality than accept the fact that half the people you love will most likely be dead in an hour. They'd lose a lot over the next few hours, that was for certain. But Hermione never imagined losing Fred. When the event came up that Hermione did almost lose Fred, she would have done anything to get him back. She would lay on his unmoving chest, sobbing, in the middle of a battlefield. Nothing mattered anymore if Fred was dead. Why wasn't she dead yet too? A large hand grabbed her shoulder, throwing her to the side. Right where she once lay, a flash of green light appeared. Anger coursed through her. A new wave of tears began to flow.

"WHY? WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAVE ME THERE, IT'S ALL I WANTED, YOU...YOU... BASTARD!" Hermione's whole body racked with sobs as she screamed at the top of her lungs. No one responded. The stranger was gone.  
This wasn't like her. This reaction, falling apart in front of all these people in a time as stressful as this. Not one bit like her. But matters of the heart drive you insane, take your brain and run in through a blender, fill your stomach with poisonous confetti.

Fred was dead. Hermione was alive. Something was wrong. The protective enchantments they'd cast earlier had failed. It was impossible. There was only one plausible answer.

"FRED!" she cried. "FREDERICK GIDEON WEASLEY!" Her voice cracked through crying that she couldn't control. Where was he, where was a body, where was Fred? Heart racing, breaths heavy, sweat pouring, tears leaving trails through the debris on her face. She turned to the right, doubled over and vomited. The war still raged around her, people falling. She couldn't tell if they were Death Eaters or members of the Order. A man in a mask approached Hermione slowly as she knelt on the ground, his wand arm outstretched. She made no effort to fight back. What was the point?

"Hermione, you've got to move, NOW!"

Fred. He was there. He was alive. She began sobbing again.  
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Fred casting the killing curse didn't even phase her. "Mione, listen to me, I'm here, I'm alive. Get. Up!" The urgency and panic in Fred's voice scared her. His hands were on her shoulders, shaking her. She stood up immediately and wrapped her arms around Fred's neck, cry freely into his shoulder.

"I thought you were dead, I wanted to be dead, Fred, Fred, Frederick, don't you ever scare me like that ever again." Her voice was muffled and she began to mumble incoherently, still sobbing. Fred half carried her away from the center of the fighting.

"Hermione. You need to stop, and listen to me. I just need you to take my hand and follow me, do you understand?" She nodded, wiping tears off her face with one sleeve and taking Fred's hand with the other hand. He began to run. She followed close behind, regaining her composure slightly. Enough to cast a few disarming spells at Death Eaters in any case. Fred led her deep into Hogwart's castle, into a secret passageway he and George had discovered easily in their first year.

He stopped right inside the entrance, blocking it off so no one else would find it. After catching his breath, he wrapped his arms around Hermione and kissed her forehead. "'Mione. Oh, Mione." There was wetness on his cheeks, a mix of his own tears and sweat. "I thought we were goners, both of us. Oh, Mione." He was shaking violently.

"I thought they hadn't worked, the spells, the bonding spells. I thought you were dead. And I don't want us to go back out there," Hermione murmured, a few stray tears still falling at the memories. They'd slid down into sitting positions against the cold stone wall, holding hands tightly. "I can't do it."

Fred hesitated. "I don't want to either...but we've got to, love. Think about Harry and Ron and the rest of my family. Think about Hagrid, and Lupin and Tonks...hell, think about Collin Creevy. They need our help too." Fred was rubbing circles into the back of Hermione's hand. He sounded distant, not Fred-like at all. But then again, nobody sounded like themselves right now. Hermione took several deep breaths.

"Let's go," she whispered. "While I've still got a bit of Gryffindor courage in me." She tried to smile faintly, but failed. "Do not leave me again, Fred Weasley. I love you too much to have another scare." A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"And I love you, Hermione Jean Granger. I'll never leave you. Ever." He kissed her, quickly but filled with passion. "Wand ready?"

"Yes," she replied weakly. "Watch your face...reducto!" The barrier that sealed them inside blasted into a thousand pieces.


End file.
